Stay With Me
by psycho-pink-faerie
Summary: CHAPTER TWO NOW ADDED! A difficult case brings Sara and Catherine together. My first CSI fanfic. Sara/Catherine pairing obviously . Don't like, don't read. Enjoy. Thanks to my reviewers. xx
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first attempt at a CSI fanfic, so I don't know how good it is. The pairing is Catherine/Sara. Femslash. So if you don't like, don't read. Rated M for detailed sexual content in later chapters. **

**Hope you enjoy.**

**Please read and review. ****Thanks.**

**Leanne **

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**Disclaimer: CSI isn't mine (unfortunately) and neither are Catherine and Sara. :( So yeah... **

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**A/N: And I don't have a beta as yet, so all spelling mistakes and grammatical errors are my own. If anyone would like to be my beta then let me know.**

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**Stay With Me**

It was 3 a.m. and Catherine Willows was still awake. She rolled over onto her side, not even sure why she was trying to sleep, when it was obvious it wasn't going to come. Not tonight. She'd had a particularly tough day; trying to find a guy who'd sexually abused and killed four young girls. Her eyes filled with tears as she pictured the last victim - six year old, Jade Green, who reminded Catherine a lot, of her own daughter.

Getting up out of the bed, she pulled on her jeans, t-shirt and sneakers and walked out of her apartment. Lindsay was staying with a friend so she didn't need to stay home. She just needed to go somewhere she could be alone. Catherine walked for ten minutes, going to sit on the large black rock that jutted out over the water's edge. That was where they'd found her. Tears stinging her eyes, she took her cell phone out of her pocket. Scrolling through her contacts, and hesitating for a second, Catherine dialled the last number on the list. The one person she knew would understand.

Sara groped in the darkness for the source of the sound that had just woken her from a disturbed sleep. Locating her phone, she answered the call, hoping it wasn't Grissom needing her for an extra shift. "Sidle," she answered sleepily.

"Sara... it's me," Catherine's voice shook on the end of the line. "I'm sorry to wake you... I didn't know who else to call."

Suddenly Sara was wide-awake; all traces of tiredness had vanished as, hearing the blonde's voice, she could tell she was near to tears. "Cath... are you okay? What's wrong?" If she was surprised that Catherine had phoned her, she hid it well. Sara found herself wishing she could wrap her arms around her, wipe away her tears. "Is it the case?" She knew Catherine well enough to know that child abuse affected her above anything else.

"It's Jade... I can't get her out of my head." Catherine sobbed. "She shouldn't have been a victim." After the third attack they'd pulled in a suspect who had links to all three girls. Catherine and Sara had interviewed him, and, having no conclusive evidence, were forced to let him go. It was then they found the missing piece. But it was too late for poor little Jade Green, who'd been the monsters' final victim.

"It's okay," Sara whispered soothingly, "we've got him... he won't be able to do this to anyone else."

"But we should have stopped him...before he"

"We did our best," Sara interrupted gently.

"But it wasn't enough," hot tears cascaded down Catherine's cheeks and she shivered, feeling the cool spray of the water against her skin. "Sara-" Anything else she said was completely incoherent, as she choked on the words.

"Where are you?" The younger woman asked, pulling a sweater over her head as she spoke, although she had a feeling she already knew - the running water in the background a bit of a clue.

"At the waterfall," Catherine's voice was hoarse from her tears. She didn't know why she was telling her this. Maybe it was because she actually wanted Sara to find her. She wanted Sara to hold her, and promise her that everything was going to be okay.

"Stay there." Sara said, her suspicions spot on. "I'm on my way." She hung up the phone, grabbed her jacket and keys and went out to her car.

Catherine sat cross-legged on the rocks, before standing up, and looking out across the water. Sara's car pulled up neatly and for a minute she allowed herself the luxury of taking in Catherine's amazing body uninterrupted. Her slender figure curved in all the right places, her windswept blonde hair shone in the moonlight. _'Okay Sidle, get a grip!' _Sara told herself. It wasn't so long ago that they'd hated each other with a passion; if it was left to them, they'd argue until the cows came home. But then one day, things had changed. They became friends. Good friends. And sometimes Sara was sure there was something more between them. Her heart fluttered in her chest every time Catherine walked into the room, and she was positive she hadn't imagined the lingering looks... the seemingly innocent touches.

Sara got out of the car, and locking it, walked over to where Catherine was standing. It appeared that the other woman hadn't noticed her arrive because she jumped when Sara touched her gently on the shoulder. "Hey," she said softly.

Catherine turned to face her, their eyes locked and a single tear rolled down her cheek. "I failed her Sara."

"We did everything we could Cath," Sara said, wishing she had the nerve to reach out and wipe her tears away. Catherine gave an involuntary shiver. "Here," the brunette pulled off her jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Thanks," Catherine answered, trying to smile but failing. Her lip quivered and she turned away from Sara, not wanting her to see her cry, although she knew there was no point. They stood in silence for a few minutes.

"You've gotta learn to let it go," Sara said, though she knew she was as bad as Catherine when it came to getting emotionally involved on the cases she worked.

This thought seemed to have occurred to Catherine because a ghost of a smile flitted across her lips. "I know," she replied. "Maybe I'll find that easier when I leave Las Vegas behind."

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**Chapter Two coming soon!**

**Reviews make me smile!! :D**

**xx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Heyy =]**

**Thank you to: Miss-Mee, Piper Gilmore, Jenn r, Maggsie, xraex21, Kirky123, Miss Danax, and Chelsee. My loveliie reviewers ;] Glad you liked it. And because of you guys you get the next chapter sooner than I planned on posting it. :]**

**Not much else to say. Keep reading. Keep reviewing! :]]**

**Leanne x**

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**Stay with me**

**Chapter Two**

Shock registered on Sara's face, "I don't think I heard you right," she said. "I thought you said you were leaving Vegas?"

"I did," Catherine answered. "I'm handing in my resignation tomorrow... I've got some leave left so-" Her voice trailed off.

"Cath. that's crazy!" Sara raised her voice, "you love your job!" Catherine didn't say anything so she continued to speak. "I can't believe you're being serious - you're a CSI, it's what you do!"

"Yeah and that's the point, I can't -" Catherine's voice broke. "Whatever made me go to the job isn't there anymore."

"So you're just gonna give up?" Sara said, suddenly angry, no, furious that Catherine thought she could let go that easily. "Then what Catherine? Going back to taking your clothes off for money?" There was a tense silence and Sara wished she could take back her last sentence.

Catherine raised a hand to slap her but the other woman was quicker and caught her by the wrist. The blonde glared at her, "let me go."

Sara immediately relinquished her hold on Catherine's arm. "I'm sorry," she apologised - a rare thing for her. "I shouldn't have said that."

"No you shouldn't," Catherine agreed, rubbing her wrist where the other woman had grabbed her. "And I prefer the term exotic dancer, if its all the same to you."

Neither of them spoke for a few seconds. "You're good at the job Cath," Sara said suddenly, breaking the silence. "Why throw that away?"

"Because... because I just can't do it anymore." Catherine's eyes misted over as she spoke, contemplating the truth to her words.

"Don't you think we all have days like that?" The brunette said. Catherine opened her mouth to speak but Sara carried on talking. "Days when it's not enough to know that we caught the person responsible... days when we can't face getting out of bed to do another shift... when we just want to jack it all in, but something stops us."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Catherine said flatly. "You don't know what I go through every time I work a child abuse case... you can't know - not until you have a child of your own. Then you'll understand Sara!"

"You're right," Sara said, surprising her. "Maybe I don't know what it's like for you... but I can tell you how it feels to be me sometimes."

Catherine looked at her curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Remember a while back you asked me why domestic abuse cases make me go off the deep end?" Sara asked quietly. The blonde nodded; she could hardly forget it. Sara had been suspended because of her, not that she'd ever admit that to her.

"Well it's because I didn't exactly have the happiest childhood," she said quietly and she went on to explain about her past. Sara didn't cry. Not even when she described, in a considerable amount of detail, her father's brutal murder. She spoke into the silence for ten minutes, training her eyes on the ground, and finished with the story of her mum being placed in psychiatric care. Silence followed her admissions and when she finally looked up at Catherine she had tears in her eyes.

The blonde reached out and touched her gently on the shoulder, Sara turned to face her, silent tears coursing down her cheeks. Catherine stepped forward, closing the gap between them and wrapped the other woman in a tight hug. Sara's body shook, as she let herself go, for the first time in ages. Catherine held her until her sobs subsided, and then cautiously pulled away. She looked completely drained. Tentatively the older woman reached out and wiped away the remaining tears that glistened on Sara's cheeks.

Sara shivered, revelling in the other woman's touch. "Thank you," she whispered, moving to kiss her on the cheek. Catherine chose that moment to tilt her head, so instead of catching the side of her face, Sara's lips brushed Catherine's. Awkwardly pulling away, they stared at each other momentarily before Catherine turned and ran, leaving Sara wondering whether she'd just blown their friendship apart.

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**Okay so there we have it. Review? Please?**

**Next Chapter: Will Sara follow Catherine? Will Catherine stay or go?**


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